From an article in today’s New York Times by Ruth Whippman: “Buying, promoting or sharing your friend’s “thing” is now a tax payable for modern friendship.
Continue readingAuthor: Marie Snyder
A Puff of Absurdity: On Extinction Rebellion
Here’s climate scientist Dr. Kate Marvel on hope and courage as quoted in Truthout: “Hope is a creature of privilege….[T]he opposite of hope is not
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On the Origins of Cultural Marxism
From an article by Samuel Moyn in the New York Times: “‘Classical Marxists, where they obtained power, expropriated the bourgeoisie and gave their property to
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Stuck Between Fear and Hope
Graham Saul was on TVO’s The Agenda: “We need a better narrative to motivate us towards change. We need to be dragged from our ethical
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On J.S. Mill and Free Speech
Most on “Just say ‘no’ to hate speech.” Maverick Philosopher wrote about free speech today, and I’d love to comment there, but there seems to
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Munk Debates: Is Populism the Way of the Future?
I watched the recent, heavily protested, Munk Debate between good buddies on the right, Steve Bannon and David Frum. The issue they were debating was,
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Climate Change Education: Maybe Too Little, Too Late?
I’ve been teaching about climate change since I started teaching in 1991. Back then, most students just laughed, and I came across as a crazy
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Can We Turn This Corner?
September is always a busy month for me, and typically I don’t get the luxury of reading the new significantly, but this time was different.
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Anita Hill
My time at university was split down the middle by the news of the Montréal Massacre, and the subsequent years were plagued with fears of
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Hedges’ Talk on America: The Farewell Tour
I was able to get a seat to see Chris Hedges at CIGI in Waterloo. It was a packed house with a full overflow room
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Culture Wars
I just finally got around to Angela Nagle’s Kill All Normies. It’s a comprehensive book outlining the history and categorization of various groups online that
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On the Climate Emergency
Lots of bleak news these days. The fires sweeping through Canada and the U.S. this year, at least, for the thinnest of silver linings in
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Censorship Quiz
I’ve been reading Bob Altermeyer’s book on authoritarianism written in 2006. Here’s a censorship quiz (p 84) that perhaps can help people recognize that few
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Internet Haters
Here’s how I see it: If two people who are equally matched have a fight, the loser can still save face. It was a fair
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Transgressions
I’ve been enjoying a podcast “This Jungian Life,” in which three Jungian analysts discuss various questions. This one in particular discusses the difference between sin and
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Manne’s "Down Girl"
With thorough argumentation and heavily footnoted facts brought to the table, Down Girl, by Kate Manne delineates misogyny from sexism and hopes “to offer a
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: End of an Era: On Buying My First Car
I bought a 2009 Kia Rio. I went with a friend because I had no idea how it all worked, and I had lots of
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Discovering Ourselves Through Choosing Others
Online dating, or, I suppose, regular dating (but I barely remember what that even is anymore) is a fascinating exercise in identity discovery. To take part
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Music is a Necessity
. . . After food, air, water, and warmth, music is the next necessity of life. ~ Keith Richards Things are really messed-up. The kids
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Half Earth
The headline says, Scientists call for a Paris-style agreement to save life on Earth. Monbiot says this often, and E.O. Wilson, and so many others.
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